Early Years Elephants

Welcome to Elephant’s Class Page!

Elephants Staff:

Reading at Home:

Tip 1: Read together every day

Reading with your child continues to be really important so keep reading lots of different books together. Most picture books will be too hard for a child of this age to read alone, but it’s good for them just to listen to a story or information book and talk about the pictures with you.

Tip 2:Allow some reading alone time

Try a short reading time when you are reading (newspaper, magazine, book, on?screen) and your child is too. It’s good to start this habit of quiet reading time early, however short to begin with!

Tip 3:Talk about the book before you begin reading

Before reading a book together, always talk about the title, the pictures and the information on the cover (front and back). If it’s new, ask what your child thinks the book might be about. If it’s an old favourite then talk about the bits you love most! Don’t worry if some books get chosen again and again!

Tip 4:Read with different voices

When reading aloud use lots of expression and try different voices for different characters. Get your child to join in with bits too, such as, ‘They pulled and they pulled!’ and ‘Fee, fi, fo, fom…’. See if your child can copy you!

Tip 5:Ask each other questions

Talk about the stories and information books when you’ve finished reading together and ask questions. What did you like best? Why did the tiger let Floppy go? Have you ever played a trick on anybody? Get your child to ask you questions too.

Tip 6:Retell stories and events

Ask your child about things that happened at school or with their friends. Sometimes, after you’ve shared a story or watched a TV programme, ask your child to tell you about it. Help them by asking What happened first? What next? And then what?

Letter Formation

Children are working on forming consistently sized letters correctly in line with the whole school policy on cursive handwriting. We begin every letter by saying “Get ready!!” and lead out of a letter by saying “Off we go!!”